Linux in Education workshops?

[Uwe Geercken]

Adam,

I did not see any answers, so I though I might jump in.

if you have phased out computers, as you say, then I guess you have  
Edubuntu installed on each of them. for the authentication part, I am  
not the right person but there is a lot of information available on  
the net and of course it depends on your setup and if you already have  
- typically a windows based authentication in place.

I assume you have a network available to connect the computers. for  
the filesharing part, you can take one of the pc's and define an area  
where files are stored and use NFS to access the files. it can be  
setup so that different users can only access their files if you want  
to. there is lots of information on NFS available and it is easy to  
setup.

as you mention Edubuntu, another idea could be to buy or use an  
existing computer as a server and use the phased out computers as  
terminals or also called thin clients. in this szenario you only need  
low end computers. but a strong(er) server. what strong means depends  
basically on the number of users and the complexity of the tasks. if  
you would go this way, you store and share the data and programs that  
are on the server.

we have done this at our school, because we were not allowed to modify  
the setup of the existing computers. so we bought a server for around  
800? and user the existing windows computers to boot from the edubuntu  
server. not a single change on the windows computers was required.

hope this helps a little bit. if you have more questions. don't  
hesitate to ask.

rgds,

uwe




Quoting Adam LaMee <adamlamee at gmail.com>:

> The recently-posted information about the FOSSED conference has
> me interested in talking face-to-face and getting some hands-on experience
> setting up a Linux lab for my high school physics classroom.  I've slowly
> been acquiring 'phased-out' PCs and got to install Edubuntu 8.04 right
> before the year ended.  They ran great, but I'd like to dedicate one as a
> server for file storage and authentication.  I have zero experience in this
> realm, but I've read the Ed- & Ubuntu handbooks various knowledgebases.
>  Does anyone have FOSSED testimonials or recommendations of other
> workshops/conferences geared toward teachers setting up a Linux network?
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Adam
>